SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Gateway Distriparks (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Gateway Distriparks is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices,
geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gateway Distriparks
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Gateway Distriparks can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gateway Distriparks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gateway Distriparks operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Gateway Distriparks
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gateway Distriparks
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Trucking sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Gateway Distriparks
Strengths of Gateway Distriparks | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gateway Distriparks are -
Learning organization
- Gateway Distriparks is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Gateway Distriparks is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Gateway Distriparks emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Gateway Distriparks is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Trucking industry. The technology infrastructure of India is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High brand equity
– Gateway Distriparks has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gateway Distriparks to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gateway Distriparks has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Gateway Distriparks staying ahead in the Trucking industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gateway Distriparks has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Trucking industry
– Gateway Distriparks has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gateway Distriparks to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Trucking industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gateway Distriparks to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gateway Distriparks in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Gateway Distriparks has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gateway Distriparks to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Gateway Distriparks has one of the best training and development program in Transportation industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gateway Distriparks in Trucking industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Gateway Distriparks is present in almost all the verticals within the Trucking industry. This has provided Gateway Distriparks a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gateway Distriparks has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gateway Distriparks has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gateway Distriparks has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Trucking industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Gateway Distriparks have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Gateway Distriparks | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gateway Distriparks are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gateway Distriparks is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Gateway Distriparks to provide better information regarding Trucking products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gateway Distriparks has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Trucking industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Trucking industry, Gateway Distriparks needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gateway Distriparks has some of the most successful models in the Trucking industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Gateway Distriparks should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Gateway Distriparks needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ less understanding of Gateway Distriparks strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Gateway Distriparks don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Gateway Distriparks is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Trucking industry, but Gateway Distriparks needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gateway Distriparks to focus more on services in the Trucking industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Gateway Distriparks has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gateway Distriparks is one of the leading players in the Trucking industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Trucking industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Gateway Distriparks, in the dynamic environment of Trucking industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gateway Distriparks has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Gateway Distriparks ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Gateway Distriparks still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Trucking industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Gateway Distriparks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Gateway Distriparks Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Gateway Distriparks are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gateway Distriparks to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gateway Distriparks can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Gateway Distriparks has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Trucking sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Gateway Distriparks to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gateway Distriparks to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gateway Distriparks can develop new processes and procedures in Trucking industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gateway Distriparks to increase its market reach. Gateway Distriparks will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gateway Distriparks can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gateway Distriparks operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Trucking sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gateway Distriparks to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Gateway Distriparks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Gateway Distriparks can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Trucking industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Trucking industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Gateway Distriparks can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gateway Distriparks has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Trucking industry. This can help Gateway Distriparks to build a more holistic ecosystem for Gateway Distriparks products in the Trucking industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gateway Distriparks in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Trucking industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Gateway Distriparks can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gateway Distriparks is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gateway Distriparks can utilize new technology in the field of Trucking industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Gateway Distriparks External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Gateway Distriparks are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gateway Distriparks in Trucking industry. The Trucking industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Trucking industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Gateway Distriparks can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gateway Distriparks high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Gateway Distriparks needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Trucking industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Gateway Distriparks will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Gateway Distriparks business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Gateway Distriparks.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Gateway Distriparks in the Trucking sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Gateway Distriparks needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Gateway Distriparks can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Trucking industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Gateway Distriparks may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Trucking sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gateway Distriparks can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Trucking industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gateway Distriparks can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate Gateway Distriparks prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gateway Distriparks Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Gateway Distriparks needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Gateway Distriparks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
